


ICANN, I do

by a_sparrows_fall



Category: Avengers Assemble (Cartoon), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Steve is not a luddite, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, domain names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 08:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9482795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_sparrows_fall/pseuds/a_sparrows_fall
Summary: Tony's last name becomes a top level domain name. There are some unexpected consequences.Established relationship. So fluffy you'll think you fell asleep in a cloud.





	

**Author's Note:**

> For my fellow [Stony Trumps Hate](http://stevetony.gives) organizers. Thanks for making doing a good thing so much fun. :D
> 
> Many thanks to [ChibiSquirt](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ChibiSquirt) for the wonderful beta work.

Steve watches Tony pull the phone away from his ear. His face looks open, contemplative... and then he _chuckles_. For once, Steve notes, it’s not caustic, or tired, or hysterical. It’s… warm. Amused and bemused at once: a tiny burst of unapologetic-if-confused joy.

Steve smiles. Moments like this one are rare, and he’ll savor it, whatever the source.

“What is it?” he asks Tony after a beat.

“Back in…” Tony exhales, remembering. “...Well, let’s go with ‘when the earth was young,’ I petitioned ICANN—that’s the, uh, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers—to make Stark a top-level domain name.”

“And…?”

“Uh, they…” He laughs again. "They actually _did_ it.”

“So your name…”

“…is like a dot-com now. Or dot-i-o, or dot-what-have-you.” Tony shakes his head.

"People can buy anything at all and end it with ‘Dot Stark'?"

"Yeah. I mean, I have first pick—” He turns back around, swiveling his stool to face the StarkPad at his desk, and begins tapping at the interface. "—I’ll buy a bunch of them up myself: Anthony, Tony, you know. The basics. And the one I actually wanted.”

Steve walks up behind him, placing his hands gently on Tony’s shoulders. “StarkNaked-dot-Stark?” he offers lightly.

Tony’s flying fingers halt for a fraction of a second as he types. “Not one I had admittedly thought of. I’ll leave that one for you.” It sounds like he’s grinning when he says it.

Well, good.

He waits until Tony tilts the tablet up and back to peer past Tony’s head at the screen.

There’s a short list of domain names, ones Tony had probably thought of in advance, but the one at the top, the one Tony has highlighted, shines up at Steve in a larger font than the rest.

maria.stark

"For the Foundation,” Tony says, voice full of quiet pride. “We’ll be relaunching with a new site design soon, so it couldn’t have come at a better time."

Steve squeezes Tony’s left shoulder, then gives in and leans down into a full hug around Tony’s neck. “That’s lovely, Tony. It’s a nice tribute.”

Tony replaces the tablet on his desk and settles into Steve’s embrace, going momentarily boneless, relaxing.

That might be the second Steve makes the decision. Not that his heart hadn’t made it long before, but it solidifies in his mind as something real: a thing that’s going to happen.

Tony’s head lists to one side, resting against Steve’s arm, and Tony closes his eyes, humming softly.

Steve thinks: _I can do this. We can do this._

He even has the start of a plan.

“You know,” Tony starts again, shifting just a little, probably opening his eyes. “There are probably a lot more domains like, uh, the one you mentioned. I should probably buy them defensively, huh?”

Steve stands, releasing Tony as he swivels in his chair to meet his boyfriend’s gaze.

“We could have the team brainstorm,” Steve teases. “See what they could come up with. I bet Hawkeye has a few suggestions—”

“—Please, stop right there.” Tony covers his eyes. “This was a terrible idea.” He sighs. “Maybe we can just keep this project between us?”

Steve crosses his arms, nods. “I’ll give it some thought, see what I can come up with."

* * *

Steve sits at his own computer desk in his room, tapping a swift rhythm against his mousepad with his forefinger.

He glances at the pixels forming the little digital clock in the corner of the screen: it’s either very early or very late, depending on your perspective.

He isn’t nervous. He _isn’t_. That’s not why he’s doing it this way, instead of face to face. He’ll do that, too, at some point, of course, but this is important too. It’s a gesture.

This is Tony’s native language, the way of his world. And Steve wants to be a part of it. Permanently.

For all that everyone teases him about being old fashioned, he really finds it pretty easy to secure the domain and set the email address up.

He rereads the draft one more time, and holds his breath while he presses send.

He’s so fixated watching the progress bar in his email app, he almost doesn't hear JARVIS informing him of the call to Assemble.

* * *

The Grim Reaper is dispatched easily enough, and Steve knows the amount of fidgeting and pacing he’s doing in the back of the Aven-Jet is inconsistent with the difficulty—or lack thereof—of the mission they just completed. But, he thinks, carding his fingers through his hair for about the fifth time in two minutes, he can’t help it.

It’s been six hours since he sent the damn thing, and Tony hasn't even _read_ it.

Unless he _has_ , and set it back to unread. Which Tony is certainly savvy enough to do, but—no, he’d _never_.

They’ve just been busy, Steve reassures himself. It’s been little more than dodging scythe swings and mocking Reaper’s taste in headgear, but he supposes it counts as a certain definition of busy.

(Of all the times for Tony stop his obsessive multitasking.)

Steve can’t stand it anymore. He charges in headfirst in battle; why should his love life be any different?

He clears his throat. Tony’s head snaps up, regarding him from behind the helmet, still fully dressed in the armor, post-battle.

But he seems to have snagged Nat and Sam’s attention, too. Even Clint, up at the controls, looks back momentarily. (At least Grim Reaper is passed out, and Hulk just continues playing Gardenscapes on his phone; Steve will never understand how those giant hands work on that tiny touchscreen.)

Still, this is gonna be awkward. Well, no turning back now.

“Hey, Shellhead, you check your email lately?”

The shoulders of the armor shift and Tony leans back in his seat some. “No, I mean—not since our bout with Williams here. Why?”

“Uh, no reason,” Steve shrugs.

Tony’s body goes still for long seconds, and Steve imagines Tony’s reading something on the armor’s HUD. He _hopes_ that’s what Tony’s doing, anyway.

The faceplate snaps up to reveal Tony’s eyes doing a fair impression of Steve’s shield: they’re huge, round, and, if Steve’s not mistaken, have stars in them. His jaw hangs open, too. He looks completely flabbergasted.

“Is this—? This is—?”

“Yeah,” Steve says, chest tight, holding his breath.

“What?” Nat says, looking alarmed. Sam, puzzled, glances at the Reaper, but he’s seemingly still unconscious.

“Secrets don’t make friends!” Hawkeye squawks from the cockpit.

Tony snaps the faceplate down, like maybe he’s taking a second look, re-reading, and Steve wants to reassure Tony it’s real, it’s really from him, but he can’t seem to make any sound at all at the moment.

The faceplate shoots back up again, and Tony has closed his mouth but his eyes are still enormous.

“You mean—? You’re asking—?”

“Yes,” Steve says, with zero hesitation, because he doesn’t want there to be any room for misinterpretation.

Not when it comes to Tony.

Not when it comes to _this_.

“You know…” Tony stands, takes a step, then stops. He glances to the side, then back at Steve. “You know domain registrations are only for a year at a time, right?”

Steve scowls, and then breaks into an honest-to-god- _guffaw_. _“Tony!_ ” he scolds.

“I just…” Tony gestures, eyes seeming to trace a path on the floor of the jet. “I mean, I know I’m… I’m not—“

Steve crosses to Tony, then, quickly, confidently, putting his hands on Tony’s arms, reassuring him, a calming presence.

“I’ll renew the damn thing, then, every year, if you makes you feel better. Do you want—?”

Now it’s Tony’s turn to rush in. “ _Yes_ ,” he says at once, all conviction, voice thick with emotion. “Yes, obviously I— _yes_.” There might be tears in his eyes, then, but Steve can’t see them for long, because Tony’s kissing him.

 _Oh, thank god_ , Steve thinks. _So_ worth it.

They part, after a moment, and Tony, still looking into Steve’s eyes, says, “Forward.”

And that’s a nice sentiment, if a little out of left field. Steve likes that. They can do this. Forward, onward, to the future, together.

There’s a ‘bing' noise from several of his fellows Avengers’ mobile devices, then—the sound of an email alert—and Steve thinks, _oh, that’s what he meant._ The rest of the team, save for Clint, gazes down at tiny screens, but Steve just keeps looking at Tony. He doesn’t need to see what they’re looking at; he has it memorized.

—

**Steve | steve@rogers.stark** 3:46am [reply][forward][archive]

Hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty of snagging this one. Thought I should go ahead and make it official.

-S

—

Sam is grinning. The corners of Natasha’s mouth curl up and she mutters, “About damn time.”

“HULK WANT TO GO CAKE TASTING!” Hulk adds helpfully.

“What?!” yells Hawkeye, deviceless while piloting the jet and clearly feeling left out. “What is it?”

“We are all invited to the gaudiest, most patriotic wedding ever,” Sam informs him.

“That is actually really sweet, you guys,” says a voice that Steve doesn’t really recognize.

The Grim Reaper, still handcuffed and lying on the floor, has regained consciousness.

Steve and Tony smile at him. “Thanks,” they say in unison, before Hulk clocks the Reaper, knocking him back out.

Tony plants another peck on Steve’s lips before pulling back and narrowing his eyes. “Is this your not-so-subtle way of suggesting that your name comes before mine in the hyphenate?”

Steve smirks. “Well,” he says authoritatively, “it’s on the internet now. It _must_ be true.”

Tony returns the smile. “Must be."

**Author's Note:**

> I registered some domain names the other day, it was super fun, and then this happened.


End file.
